My mission this week is to restart my weight loss by adhering strictly to the program and eliminating the “system gaming” I’ve been using which has, I think, lead to my stall.
I committed to four specific things I am going to do this week and will discuss one each day through Friday. Today’s topic: Workout Monday (A) and Friday (B) with at least two runs during the week and one run on the weekend. No less than 12 miles total distance.
Well this was a total bust. OK, not total. I did do my Workouts A & B on Monday and today but running didn’t happen. I hope to get some in tomorrow but even if I do, I will be really lucky to hit half the distance I wanted to do.
Why? Hip pain. I get bursitis in my left hip and, while this doesn’t seem to be that, it was comprised of twinges which have previously presaged a flare up of the full bursitis. Since a full bursitis event means I can’t run at all for several (3-5) weeks, I did not want to risk it and sat out this week’s runs.
It has not bothered me yesterday and today so, if it stays that way, I’ll go out for a run tomorrow morning. We’ll see.
Now, to the bigger topic promised by the title of this post: exercise and its relation to weight loss.
Put simply, I think there is little to no correlation.
Why? My experience is that if I eat right, I lose weight. If not, I gain or, at best, maintain. Whether or not I exercise seems to have very little effect on my overall weight.
There have been times when I was gaming the system (of whichever diet I was on: WW, Atkins, etc.) and would exercise more to make up for it. On the really good weeks (like when I would ride 150 miles on my bike) I could get away with cheating some and hold steady. Most times, if I cheated more than a little, I gained.
Now, some of that might have been transition from fat to muscle. No doubt. But too often I would see my weight go up despite the exercise.
MANY other times I would follow the diet pretty strictly and not exercise but still see weight loss. More times than elsewise.
So . . . what does all this mean? Should you not exercise and only eat well? Heck no.
Tim talks about transforming your body and that you can count a 20 pound transformation as:
- losing 20 pounds overall
- gaining 20 pounds of lean muscle
- losing 15 pounds but adding 5 pounds of muscle
- everything in between which adds up to fat loss + muscle gain = 20
The point is to change your body for the better so yes, exercise is very much still worth it.
Just don’t count on it to make you lose weight. With very few exceptions, my experience says it just doesn’t work that way.
YMMV.
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Today was my fifth Workout B (legs and chest).
- Leg press 13 reps — 220 pounds
- Next time 230 pounds
- Decline press 8 reps — 130 pound
- Next time 135 pounds
Stationary bike – 3 minutes at 90 RPM(I forgot to do this this morning.)
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Breakfast: three scrambled eggs, refried beans, two sausage, ice water, AGG
Lunch: Chipotle burrito bowl with pinto beans, black beans, double steak, lettuce, pico, guacamole, and salsa, AGG
Dinner: TBD
Other items through the day: black coffee, kombucha, whey protein powder drink
New John for a New Year 
I think it’s harder to recognize the effects of exercise because of the # of calories you burn exercising. If you burn 350 calories during a run, that doesn’t translate to much weight. What are there, 3500 calories in a pound of fat? Big difference there. I do believe exercising has really helped me, but I don’t know for sure. I know it makes me feel a lot better, sleep better, and have more energy throughout the day. Those are all wins. 🙂
Gotta love the Chipotle bowls! I never thought of getting both kinds of beans though. Might have to try that next time.
Nick — I agree. But it has been a consistent truism for me: eating dictated my weight loss.
The exercise helped improve my health, strength, stamina, etc., all good things. But for out and out weight loss, it has always been directly related to my eating, pure and simple.
BTW — I don’t know where you live but if you happen to have Freebirds around there, give them a shot. It was their idea that Chipotle ripped off and they are better at it than Chipotle is.